


Reasonable Routine

by PennamePersona



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Introspection, Riza in Different Parts of Her Life, Timeskip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-27 09:27:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17159480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PennamePersona/pseuds/PennamePersona
Summary: Riza Hawkeye had a routine.When Roy Mustang had trained with her father, her routine had been slightly different.When he’d left, her routine had readjusted. It hadn’t been so terribly bad.Not compared to what came next.





	Reasonable Routine

**Author's Note:**

> This is a secret santa gift for tumblr user tinylightsflash! I hope you enjoy it!

Riza Hawkeye had a routine.

 

She’d wake up, clean around the house, organize her father’s work (when he’d let her near it), and pursue her own studies and interests in the time she had left. She liked target practice. She had a knack for always hitting the bullseye, even when there was wind.

 

When Roy Mustang had trained with her father, her routine had been slightly different. The time she had to herself, before, became intermingled with his time. Roy enjoyed watching her target practice. He’d called her clever, skilled, impressive.

 

When he’d left, her routine had readjusted. It hadn’t been so terribly bad.

 

Not compared to what came next.

 

 

Riza still has a routine. It’s much stricter, now. She wakes up exactly when she needs to, eats exactly enough to keep her going, listens to orders and follows them, and she kills. She kills, she murders, she slaughters, and it never feels worthwhile.

 

Target practice at her father’s house hadn’t been something with a goal in mind, not at first. Her father hadn’t been a kind man. She knows that.

 

But she hates seeing that in comparison like this. She sees so many kind men, so many good fathers, dropping under the assault of Amestris.

 

Riza tries to focus on her routine. There’s not much else she can manage, right now, in this war. She found Roy yesterday, saw the look in his eyes upon seeing that he’d influenced her into this murderous lifestyle -

 

She’s trying not to think about it too much.

 

It’s working alright. She’s gotten very good at not thinking.

 

* * *

 

“Riza!” Fuery calls, running across the green to her. “Riza, wait!”

 

“What is it?” She asks, smiling at his eagerness. Kain Fuery feels so young to her, despite their age difference being only a few years.  

 

“I wanted to give you this,” He says, handing her a paper bag. “It’s some treats, for Black Hayate. You said he was under the weather last week, so I want him to know we’re all rooting for him!”

 

“Well, that’s very nice of you,” She says, tucking the bag under her arm. “I’ll be sure to pass that along.”

 

“Thanks!” He waves, heading back the way he came.

 

Riza takes a moment to watch him go, then continues her walk. Or rather, she _tries_ to continue her walk. She’s stopped again very quickly, this time by Falman and his panicked look.

 

“Anything I can help with?” She asks, and he jumps slightly.

 

“Maybe,” He says. “I’m not sure where this office is. Everything’s so different in Central.”

 

“It is,” She agrees, glancing at the marks on the envelope he’s carrying. “Oh, I know where that is. Just got past that big white building on the corner, it’s only a few doors down.”

 

“Thank you so much,” He says, running off before she has a chance to say anything else. She shakes her head fondly, and before she can even try walking again, she hears Havoc and Breda call her name.

 

“Riza!” Havoc shouts from across the green. “Hey, Riza! The Colonel wants to see you!”

 

“Alright!” She calls back, chuckling when Breda pulls Havoc along behind him.

 

She heads to the Colonel’s office, which is a very short walk from where she was. She knocks slightly, and hears a tired groan from within.

 

“Sir?” She says, poking her head in.

 

“Ah, Lieutenant,” Mustang says, yawning. “I was hoping you could help me with this write-up. The words seem to be floating.”

 

“I think you should go home, Colonel,” Riza says. “You’re clearly too exhausted to get any work done.”

 

“Doesn’t matter,” Mustang mumbles, his head already on his desk, eyelids drooping shut. “We’ve got to get all of this going if we’re going to...”

 

And then he’s snoring.

 

Riza sets the bag Fuery gave her down and pulls the files from Mustang’s desk into a folder. She drapes a blanket over the Colonel, well aware that waking him up will do no good. He’s slept in his office more times than she can count. She thinks she hears him mutter a thank you when she pats the blanket down, but that could just as easily be nothing.

 

“So committed to making things right,” She says, quietly, just to herself. She looks out the window behind the Colonel’s desk and watches the city for a moment. It's bustling, as always, full of people who have no real idea of what's happened in this country. What's still happening, and what they're all trying to change, her and Breda and Havoc and Falman and Fuery and the Colonel.

 

She does not doubt for a moment that their commitment will pay off.

 

* * *

 

It’s on a day off, one she’s been more or less forced to take, when she realizes it.

 

She sets her book down abruptly, causing Black Hayate to stir next to her on the couch.

 

She’s happy.

 

Riza takes a moment to think of the last time she was happy, really content with how her life was going. She casts her mind back to before Ishval, to when she lived with her father. She thinks that maybe, when Roy was studying with her father, she was happy. She had a friend, of sorts, who encouraged her, and freedom to try what she wanted.

 

That was years ago.

 

Riza looks down at her hands. There’s blood on them that she can’t see, always will be, and that’s why she works so hard. That’s why she’ll follow Roy Mustang into hell.

 

But until then...Riza leans back and thinks about what her routine has become. Corralling the rest of the Colonel’s unit, training to keep in shape, checking in on the Elric brothers when they’re in Central.

 

She might be doing all of this because of the worst decisions she could have ever made, might be fighting hard to be called a war criminal, but right now…

 

Riza Hawkeye is content. She has a family.

 

 _A family_ , she thinks. _Friends_.

 

Black Hayate snuffles, pushing his head under her hand. She smiles down at him and pets him obligingly.

 

“I should rest soon, boy,” She says. “I have a lot to do tomorrow.”

 

 _And after that_ , she thinks, _a life I’ll be able to live with._

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Holidays!
> 
> I take writing requests! Information at: [provisionalpenname on tumblr](https://provisionalpenname.tumblr.com)


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